The Southern California arena rock, hair metal, laidback hippie garden culture - for many growing up in the '70s and '80s, none of it made us who we were like Lou Reed did.

When I was growing up, my parents thought there could be nothing better than being a writer. And at that time, society afforded that impracticality.

Mothers suffer in the workplace. That fact is by now so painfully familiar it even has a name: the motherhood penalty.

As consumers, we can pressure corporations both to monitor and improve workplace conditions overseas - when inspections reveal violations, these companies should address the gaps immediately.

A person's current personality of love, hatred, jealousy, rage or a murderous intent and so on is formed upon genetic elements, education, the environment and a family a person grows in.

You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces - my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined.

I think all those people I did stories about measured their own success by the joy their work was giving them.

Let us realize that: the privilege to work is a gift, the power to work is a blessing, the love of work is success!